Brady's FreezerBondz™ Labels Facilitate Virus Research

In Cardiff University's Medical Microbiology Department, frozen cell, virus and plasmid samples are labelled using Brady's specially developed FreezerBondz™ ID system which withstands long-term low-temperature storage.

Dr Carole Rickards, Laboratory Manager for Infection, Immunity & Biochemistry in the Medical Microbiology Department of Cardiff University, explains the significance of the group's work: 'One of our main projects involves looking at how herpes viruses such as Human Cytomegalovirus (HCMV) manage to evade the immune system and persist in the body following a primary infection. HCMV is the major viral cause of congenital malformation, is associated with life-threatening disease in immunocompromised individuals and is a causative agent of hepatitis, colitis, post-transplantation arteriosclerosis and infectious mononucleosis. One of the ways we study this important pathogen is by putting HCMV genes into Adenovirus. Our vast banks of over 800 cell lines stored in liquid nitrogen, as well as frozen plasmid and virus samples at -20 ºC and -70 ºC, together form a vital resource for research. We use Brady's FreezerBondz™ labels, printed using the BBP11 thermal transfer printer, to ensure that the data for each sample remains legible and intact during long-term storage at low temperatures.'

The BBP11 thermal transfer printer from Brady, provides fast, economical 300 dpi printing on a wide range of high performance label materials. FreezerBondz™ labels are legible and durable, and can be applied to frozen surfaces including glass and polypropylene stored in liquid nitrogen. Brady's IdentiLab™ labelling software supports database import and 2D or linear barcoding, while easy-to-use wizards help create new files and templates.

According to Carole Rickards, 'One of the main benefits for us of Brady FreezerBondz™ labels is that they stick to already frozen surfaces. This feature has enabled us to replace old handwritten cryovial labels with new, clearly legible printed information, so safeguarding sample identities in our cell, plasmid and virus banks. The BBP11 thermal transfer printer is a really useful tool, making fast work of printing multiple copies so that labelling up ten identical samples is no longer a time-consuming and potentially error-prone task. The printed labels have plenty of space to include all the information we need and the clear text means there will be no misinterpretation of data in the future.'